Save time and money

Decide which of our teams of genetically superior bulls you want to breed from, then draft your cows out on the day of mating. It’s that simple. There’s no need to spend time going through bull lists nominating individual bulls to breed from. And, you get cheaper access to New Zealand’s top bulls by using Premier Sires.

Breed from New Zealand’s top bulls

Each Premier Sires team is carefully selected to optimise genetic gain. Every team has a weighted average across breeding worth (BW) and traits other than production (TOP). This value reflects the use of top-ranked bulls in each team. We’ll make sure your herd is mated with a good selection of bulls in the team to achieve close to the team’s weighted average.

Choose from three breeds of genetically superior bulls:

Holstein-Friesian

Jersey

KiwiCross.

All the bulls in our Daughter Proven teams are graduates of our Sire Proving Scheme, a rigorous four-year programme to identify New Zealand’s top bulls. Many Premier Sires bulls feature in the top 30 of the Ranking of Active Sires (RAS) List — New Zealand’s top-ranked dairy sires.

Some of the bulls in our Forward Pack teams have not yet graduated from the Sire Proving Scheme. These elite young bulls show great genetic promise and allow you to gain a competitive advantage.

All bulls in our A2 teams are currently going through our Sire Proving Scheme and are awaiting daughter proofs.

Artificial breeding technician service

Let our experienced technicians do the hard work of inseminating your herd, using fresh semen stored in our exclusive Long Last Liquid, which means it stays fresh for three days. You can also do the inseminating yourself.

Forward Pack — for farmers looking to fast-track genetic gains.

Daughter Proven — for farmers who want proven bulls.

A2 teams - for farmers who want an A2 herd.

If you want more heifer calves from your top cows, we also offer small teams of sexed bulls for a short time during the spring mating season. The semen of these bulls has been sexed so you can produce more heifer calves.

We regularly monitor the performance of all Premier Sires bulls during the season, and change the makeup of the teams if necessary.

Forward Pack — fast-track genetic gains

Forward Pack teams are made up of the top performers from our Daughter Proven teams, plus a selection of elite young bulls that show great genetic promise. From mid-October we add early daughter proven Spring bulls to the Forward Pack team.

Forward Pack is a good choice to gain a competitive edge. You get to breed from our best daughter proven bulls — and you also get to fast-track genetic gain through early access to the bulls we expect to become star performers.

Daughter Proven — for proven bulls

Daughter Proven teams are made up entirely of graduates from our Sire Proving Scheme. These bulls have a proven track record, making Daughter Proven teams the right choice if you’re looking for reliable, consistent results at a good price.

We have a Daughter Proven team for each of the three breeds, as well as two smaller teams specifically for breeding with yearlings, where ease of calving is important.

A2 teams - for A2 bulls

A2 teams are made up of genomically selected sires that carry the A2 protein allele. These teams are the right choice if you're transitioning your herd to A2 or you already have an A2 herd.

We have two A2 teams:Holstein-Friesian A2KiwiCross A2

We do not have a specific A2 Jersey team due to the high frequency of the A2 allele in the Jersey population. A2 teams are unavailable in conjunction with a Daughter Proven plan or Forward Pack plan of the same breed and animal group.

Sexed bulls — for more heifer calves

For a short time during the spring mating season we offer teams of bulls whose semen has been sexed to increase the chance of producing a heifer from 50% to 90%.

Our sexed teams are made up of elite young bulls that show great genetic promise.

They’re experts at what they do — they perform more than 4 million inseminations using fresh semen every year, and produce consistently high conception rates. We regularly monitor our technicians to ensure their performance is up to standard.

DIY insemination option

See DIY insemination for more information about the training courses and how to buy DIY insemination equipment.

DIY insemination training

DIY full course - 1 week

$699.00

DIY refresher training - 1 day

$180.00

The technician can then inseminate the cow with a more suitable bull.

DataMATE also updates your mating records in MINDA.

If you’re doing the inseminating yourself we’ll use your herd records to prepare a DIY Mating Report identifying potentially risky matings. Your herd records must be up to date in MINDA before we can prepare the report.

BW reliability and how it works

BW reliability indicates how confident we are that an animal’s BW reflects its true merit.

Reliability measures how much information has contributed to the animal’s trait evaluation. It is shown as a number on a scale of 0 to 99.

If the reliability is high (in the nineties) the index is not likely to change greatly as further information is included in an animal’s evaluation. It may change greatly, but the chances of it doing so are small.

The lower the reliability, the more likely the index will significantly change as further information is added to the evaluation.

The more information that is included in the evaluation (such as daughters and lactations), the higher the reliability. If a bull has no recorded parents and no recorded offspring, his BW has a reliability of 0.

It’s important to realise that the reliability says nothing about the bull — it refers to the amount of information we have about the bull’s relatives in general, and his daughters in particular. We might say: “This bull has a low reliability,” but we really mean that the bull’s evaluation is based on the performance records of only a small sample of daughters.

Using a team of bulls gives you greater protection from individual bull movements.

To qualify for the InvestaMate loyalty discount, the number of Premier Sires and / or Alpha straws purchased must be greater than, or equal to, 95% of qualifying animals (female animals born prior to 31 December 2015 in the ‘Herd’ at the time of October charging – ‘Herd’ is defined as the Whole Herd group in MINDA). For example, if you had 400 qualifying animals in the herd on MINDA then you would need to purchase 380 straws or more within the period between 1 March 2017 and 28 February 2018 to qualify for an InvestaMate discount.

Premier Sires® technician service prices

You are charged per 100 inseminations or part thereof, depending on the number of inseminations to
Premier Sires. As described in the tables, the average cost of inseminations decreases as the number
of cows being put to AB increases.

Number of cows

Daughter Proven (per insemination)

Forward Pack (per insemination)

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)

Number of cows
1-100

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$23.65

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$26.65

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$26.65

Number of cows
101-200

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$23.05

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$26.05

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$26.05

Number of cows
201-300

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$22.45

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$25.45

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$25.45

Number of cows
301-400

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$21.85

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$24.85

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$24.85

Number of cows
401-500

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$21.25

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$24.25

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$24.25

Number of cows
501-600

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$20.65

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$23.65

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$23.65

Number of cows
601-700

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$20.05

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$23.05

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$23.05

Number of cows
701-800

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$19.45

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$22.45

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$22.45

Number of cows
801-900

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$18.85

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$21.85

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$21.85

Number of cows
901-1000

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$18.25

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$21.25

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$21.25

Number of cows
1001-1100

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$17.65

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$20.65

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$20.65

Number of cows
1101-2000

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$17.00

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$20.00

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$20.00

Number of cows
2001+

Daughter Proven (per insemination)
$16.10

Forward Pack (per insemination)
$19.10

A2/A2 team* (per insemination)
$19.10

* The Premier Sires A2/A2 team is comprised of genomically-selected bulls only.

Premier Sires DIY prices

Number of cows

Daughter Proven (per straw)

Forward Pack (per straw)

A2/A2 team* (per straw)

Number of cows
1-100

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$22.65

Forward Pack (per straw)
$25.65

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$25.65

Number of cows
101-200

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$22.05

Forward Pack (per straw)
$25.05

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$25.05

Number of cows
201-300

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$21.45

Forward Pack (per straw)
$24.45

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$24.45

Number of cows
301-400

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$20.85

Forward Pack (per straw)
$23.85

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$23.85

Number of cows
401-500

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$20.25

Forward Pack (per straw)
$23.25

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$23.25

Number of cows
501-600

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$19.65

Forward Pack (per straw)
$22.65

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$22.65

Number of cows
601-700

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$19.05

Forward Pack (per straw)
$22.05

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$22.05

Number of cows
701-800

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$18.45

Forward Pack (per straw)
$21.45

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$21.45

Number of cows
801-900

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$17.85

Forward Pack (per straw)
$20.85

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$20.85

Number of cows
901-1000

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$17.25

Forward Pack (per straw)
$20.25

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$20.25

Number of cows
1001-1100

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$16.65

Forward Pack (per straw)
$19.65

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$19.65

Number of cows
1101-2000

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$16.00

Forward Pack (per straw)
$19.00

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$19.00

Number of cows
2001+

Daughter Proven (per straw)
$15.10

Forward Pack (per straw)
$18.10

A2/A2 team* (per straw)
$18.10

* The Premier Sires A2/A2 team is comprised of genomically-selected bulls only.

Premier Sires® pricing examples

Forward Pack

Forward Pack delivers the best of Daughter Proven, Genomically Selected, and Spring sires.

Forward Pack is unavailable in conjunction with a Daughter Proven plan or an A2 plan for the same
breed and animal group.

As your inseminations increase, prices will move down the graduated price scale, and each insemination
will be charged at the appropriate Daughter Proven or Genomically Selected rate.

Example 2: If you were to have 320 Daughter Proven Premier Sires Technician Service inseminations, you would be
charged as follows: $7,352 / 320 cows = $22.98

Number of inseminations

Price per insemination

Total cost for each hundred

Number of inseminations
1-100

Price per insemination
$23.65

Total cost for each hundred
$2365

Number of inseminations
101-200

Price per insemination
$23.05

Total cost for each hundred
$2305

Number of inseminations
201-300

Price per insemination
$22.45

Total cost for each hundred
$2245

Number of inseminations
301-320

Price per insemination
$21.85

Total cost for each hundred
$437

Total cost: $7352

Average cost per insemination for 320 cows: $22.98

InvestaMate Discount

Percentage discount

Year of qualification

How/When applied

Percentage discount
3%

Year of qualification
First

How/When applied
As credit in March following the season's mating

Percentage discount
5%

Year of qualification
Second

How/When applied
At time of charging

Percentage discount
10%

Year of qualification
Third and subsequent

How/When applied
At time of charging

You will move up or down the InvestaMate scale each season depending on whether the 95% threshold
was met in the previous season.

Please note your straw purchase can be
made up of any combination of Premier Sires® or Alpha™ straws. Premier Sires
Fresh Sexed and Sire Proving Scheme inseminations contribute toward the 95% threshold
of (InvestaMate) qualifying purchases, (qualifying animals are female animals born prior to 31st December 2016 in the ‘Herd’ at the time of October charging. “Herd is defined as the whole herd group in MINDA”. The InvestaMate discount does not
apply to Premier Sires Fresh Sexed or Sire Proving Scheme products (i.e.
InvestaMate discounts only apply to Premier Sires Daughter Proven, Premier
Sires Forward Pack, Premier Sires A2/A2, and Alpha products).